U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang has thrown out all of the claims against pop singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine from a $20 million lawsuit against a former male escort, although allowing the main accusations against her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs to survive.
According to TMZ, citing the decision, the singer has been dismissed from a sex-trafficking and racketeering lawsuit filed by Clayton Howard.
Howard’s claims against the singer regarding her involvement in human trafficking and psychological injuries caused during “freak offs” have been dismissed with prejudice, TMZ said. Howard can amend a portion of the suit and then refile within two weeks, according to Reality Tea.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit against Ventura because Howard could not provide a concrete example of a nonconsensual incident involving the singer within the statute of limitations. The Lagos Review cited court documents to say that Howard admitted taking part in consensual paid interactions from 2009 until 2019 before turning them into trafficking incidents.
Representing himself while studying law, Howard filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in the summer of 2025, with Combs, Ventura, Bad Boy Records, and Combs Enterprises LLC named as defendants.
According to the court documents cited by The Lagos Review, Howard claimed that he was transported across the country for about a decade starting from 2009 and that he was drugged, isolated in hotel rooms, and flown between the cities by Combs.
According to Howard’s suit, Ventura pushed him to use drugs, required him to have unprotected intercourse, which resulted in a sexually transmitted infection, and aborted one of his pregnancies without his consent. These claims have not been substantiated in court, and Ventura has been cleared of them. Combs has denied these accusations.
Ventura’s attorneys at Wigdor LLP called for the permanent dismissal of the claims, arguing that the plaintiff has had five opportunities to bring a viable claim, that all relevant facts were known before the filing, and that the plaintiff has already published a commercial account of his experience, as stated by Miixtapechiick, citing the June filing.
Her attorneys also said the lawsuit’s timing coincided with the disclosure of Ventura’s own settlement with Combs.
It appears that the lawsuit against Combs is far from over. Judge Hwang has allowed some claims to proceed towards the trial, including claims for federal and California human trafficking based on alleged conduct after June 2015, AllHipHop first reported.
The judge has dismissed four of the eight original claims brought by Howard: a civil RICO claim and a Florida trafficking claim filed too late, as well as two counts under the federal criminal statutes because private citizens cannot bring lawsuits under those statutes, The Lagos Review said.
In July 2025, Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges but was found guilty on two counts of transporting people to engage in prostitution.
In October 2025, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced Combs to 50 months, or 4 years plus a $500,000 fine and five years of supervised release, CBS News reports. Combs is appealing the verdict and sentence.
Ventura’s 2023 lawsuit against Combs alleging rape and years of physical abuse has been settled in 24 hours. She told at Combs’ criminal trial in May 2025 that she was awarded $20 million paid by Combs and his companies, according to The Associated Press.
It is believed that this lawsuit triggered the federal investigation that resulted in Combs’ arrest in September 2024.
Representatives for Ventura and Combs did not immediately respond to the ruling.
